Endo International PLC has tapped a financial restructuring adviser to help the drugmaker evaluate its options for dealing with thousands of lawsuits alleging it contributed to the opioid crisis, WSJ Pro Bankruptcy reported. Endo has engaged consulting firm Alvarez & Marsal Holdings LLC to advise on options that could include a balance-sheet restructuring that would address the company’s liability from litigation around its opioid drugs, as well as its more than $8 billion in debt. As of July, there were nearly 3,000 legal cases pending against Endo from states, counties, cities and Native American tribes over opioids, as well as more than 300 lawsuits from hospitals, health systems, unions, and health or welfare funds. Opioid producers Mallinckrodt PLC, Purdue Pharma LP and Insys Therapeutics Inc. all have turned to chapter 11 since 2019 to drive settlements with state and local authorities alleging the companies contributed to widespread addiction. Endo, which has operations in Malvern, Pa., but is domiciled in Ireland following a 2014 corporate tax inversion, has said that by 2017, it ceased promoting opioid products to healthcare professionals and eliminated the company’s entire pain-product sales force. It also voluntarily withdrew its drug Opana from the market and discontinued the research and development of new opioid products.
